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Tuesday, December 4, 2018

NOTE- this was first published back on February 18, 2005 at Dave White's glenrowan1880 website. I figured it was high time for it to be brought back into the light as this festival has been much discussed and alluded to on many forums and facebook groups. Please excuse the formatting of the text as I had cut and pasted my old article (and edited out dead links, etc) but blogger has a mind of its own!

THE NED KELLY CENTENARY FESTIVAL

Written by Sharon Hollingsworth,

North American Correspondent,

Glenrowan1880.com

Everyone
who knows me, knows that I love to hunt for facts and solve
mysteries. I can't rest until I find solutions to puzzles and conundrums
that have caught my fancy. My latest Sherlock Holmes type exercise
involved the Ned Kelly Centenary Festival, which was supposedly held a
quarter of a century ago at Winton, Victoria on November 7, 8, and 9,
1980.

My quest began because at another Kelly website, and on ebay from time to
time, I had seen a souvenir programme booklet for the Ned Kelly
Centenary Festival.

Further checking on the other Kelly website showed that there was a
recording called 'Ned Kelly 100 Years a Hero' released as a souvenir of
the Festival. What sort of threw me off was that the blurb (at least
last time I looked!) said that it was "produced in 2000 by Bail
Records." Having seen a photo of the back cover, I think the confusion
set in as 2000 was a postal code of an address on the back. This was
originally produced in 1980.

My curiosity was piqued! Why had I never heard anything about this
event? No one online had ever mentioned it in feedbacks or in articles,
no one had claimed they had attended it and I have seen no photos of it.
Granted it took place in the pre-internet days, but folks love to rub it
in and carry on about some great one time only experience they had that
you never will (witness the original Woodstock)! I decided to go to the
google search engine (in other words I 'googled' it!) and found only 3
entries. The first two were from that other Kelly site already mentioned
(about the booklet and recording). Where it got really intriguing was
the third
entry which turned out to be something of a red herring!

The website that google took me to was a sort of travelogue of someone
who had visited Australia and toured all around. They said that while in
Beechworth they visited a bookshop and that they "...discovered a pile
of old 'Ned Kelly Centenary Festival' programmes from 1980. For some
reason, it never took place, but the literature had already been printed
up and was full of articles on their hero." So the plot thickened!
So I had the clues of a booklet and recording being made, no mention
anywhere on the event actually going on and now this individual giving
this information on a website, which obviously someone had to have
related that "fact" to him.

I decided to dig deeper and ask around to see if any of the 'usual
suspects' in Kelly circles had any idea what the go was. Several people
had told me that they had heard it did not go on or that they heard it
had been cancelled and so on. A couple of people had said they always
just assumed it had happened but they had heard nothing of it beyond
reading the festival programme booklet. So again I found myself without
a clear answer. I was told that Tapsell's Bookshop (in Beechworth) had
stacks and stacks of the programmes available for $2 a copy. Again this
added to the assumption that if they had "thousands" of them then
maybe
it did not go on as related by the punter above? I knew I needed a copy
of this booklet myself before I could proceed further. Dave White sent
me one and I was very impressed with the content.

The Ned Kelly Centenary Festival souvenir programme booklet was
dedicated to "MAGGIE SKILLION-the fifth or forgotten member of the
Kelly gang."
Looking through this I was able to find out that the director of the
festival was Mr. Peter Galvin. I was able to
locate Mr. Galvin and get the story from "the horse's mouth" so to
speak. I found that the Ned Kelly Centenary Festival most certainly did
go on! I have an interview I conducted with Mr. Galvin below. He was
most gracious and friendly and helpful. But first, to set the stage,
let's see what was on the schedule of events for that weekend in
November of 1980.
The festival kicked off on Friday November 7th with the gates opening at
6:00 P.M. Admission fee was $8.50 per day and children under 14
accompanied by adults were admitted free. A weekend ticket for Friday
through Sunday cost $16.00. But what a bargain it was as the festival
was chockful of entertainment and fun! According to the booklet there
were around 20 musical acts to perform.

Among those scheduled were the Bushwackers Band, Redgum, Reg Poole, Ted
Egan, Carrl Myriad Band, Eric Bogle, Johnny Chester and Hotspur, Bush
Turkey and many others. Quite a few plays and re-enactments were to be
presented. The plays "The Jerilderie Weekend" and "The Kate Kelly
Roadshow" (by Frank Hatherley) were on the schedule Re-enactments such
as one on bushranging called "The Chain Gang" and Kelly related ones
such as "The Fitzpatrick Incident," "Stringybark Creek,"
"The Kellys
Wouldn't Run," "Robbery on the Benalla Road," "The Shooting
of Aaron
Sherritt," and "Glenrowan" [see photo at bottom] were also on the
agenda.
Other events and activities over the long weekend included a damper
bakeoff, harness show, stockhorse events, a cross country horse race,
billy boiling, yarn spinning, bush fun run and marathon wood chopping.
As if all that was not enough to get one's Kelly groove on, there was to
be a forum led by Dr. John McQuilton, a showing of historical Kelly
films, carnival rides, amusements and exhibitions, as well as bush and
folk music workshops and a special Guinness Book of World Records
attempt!

The souvenir programme booklet itself also contained articles about the
Kellys which included "Fallout From Stringybark Creek," (by Doug Morrissey) and "Did Ned
Get a
Fair Trial?"
and interestingly there is a reprint of the 1880 pamphlet called
"Kelly's Defence" (by a lady).

One final bit before getting to the interview with Mr. Galvin is this
bit taken from the festival booklet. In the section called "History of
the Festival-how it came to pass" is the question "Why Winton?"
The
answer:"When the idea was first conceived, we looked around for a suitablevenue in the Glenrowan area. At the time, the local media publicised oursearch for a Festival site, and we received an offer from the BenallaAuto Club, suggesting the viability of the Winton Recreation Reserve.After considerable investigation, it was decided that the Winton Reservewas the only suitable site in "Kelly Country" that would be able to
copewith the crowd that we anticipated would attend. Winton also had theadded advantage of being situated centrally in the heart of KellyCountry, just 6km from the Kelly Homestead in Greta, 15km fromGlenrowan, 12km from Benalla, and was the site of the former Winton GrogShop, where disgraced Constable Fitzpatrick drank for many hours beforehe set off to arrest Dan Kelly, but ended up assaulting Ned Kelly'smother and sisters. This incident led to Ned's mother being jailed forthree years, and was the spark that ignited the Kelly legend. What acombination!! The site of a coward's self-vindication to the site ofmassive people's commemoration. At this festival we stand on the site ofhistory, but such is life!"
..............................................

Below is an email interview I conducted with Peter Galvin, the director
of the Ned Kelly Centenary Festival.

Sharon: Hi, Peter, I hope you didn't take any offence that myself alongwith many others had thought this Festival did not actually eventuate! I havealways wondered why we never have heard anyone say they attended or havenot seen any photos of it on the net. Perhaps with this story, some maycome forward and offer up their accounts of it. So tell me, what madeyou come up with the idea of staging a Centenary Festival? Who else wasinvolved in the planning? Were you a Ned Kelly fan from way back?Peter: The Kelly Festival was in fact the idea of many like mindedpeople who were loosely associated through an ambitious magazine calledthe Independent Australian, the Bushwackers Band and also the BuildersLabourers Union. The Festival came about when a number of us who wereinvolved in the promotion of an independent Australian culture saw thecentenary as a way of highlighting Australia's unique culture. Ned Kellyepitomised to us the ideal that Australians did not need to besubservient to anyone else's culture. We were all great fans of theKelly legend.The Festival became our field of dreams and was at least a decade beforeits time. I have no doubt that it was our politicisation of the Kelly
legendthat led to our event being ignored by history, because in a sense wefailed to capture the support of the traditional Kelly aficionado, themainstream folk music scene and the local area community.

Sharon: Peter, tell us how many people did attend the Festival andrelate to the readers here what you had told me earlier about why the attendancecount was lower than you had hoped for. Seems like a run of bad luck andsome unfortunate circumstances just prior to it.

Peter: We had about 3,000 paying customers and about 1,000 others(workers, performers etc) and was a wonderful event for those thatattended. It was a financial disaster for the organisers (a group of 5friends were the company, organisers and financiers) being about 2,000people short of break even. Unfortunately it rained solidly in the weekleading up to the Festival and there was a petrol transport strike whichcombined to stop people coming up from Melbourne especially and alsodown from Sydney. The Bushwackers Band and the BLF combined to helpus sort out the financial mess.Sharon: Before the Festival you had been involved with promoting bandsand events through your company called Ironbark Promotions. What other jobsor career paths had you followed up to that point and what direction didyou take in later years?

Peter: At the time I was an industrial officer with the BLF (aconstruction industry union) and in my spare time I ran Ironbark musicpromotions as a hobby. I have worked for the past decade in thecommunity education and training sector, until I had a stroke a fewyears back and now do freelance media and I am still called Ironbark.Sharon: Reading in the Ned Kelly Centenary Festival booklet I see thatat the Festival you had several souvenir items for sale among them an EP(extended play) record with 4 songs on it (The Kelly's Wouldn'tRun-Carrl Myriad/Stringybark Creek-Bushwackers Band/Poor Ned-Redgum/NedKelly's Letter-Blue Tongue).

Give us some info on this record.

Peter: The EP was a moderate success but I was left with a couple ofthousand which I have managed to sell (as a fund raiser for worthy causes) orgive away over the past 20 years. The CD version is just a copy that I rippedto the computer and make for people without record players, depending ondemand.Sharon: Speaking of the record above, did every musical act listed inthe Festival Programme booklet (around 20 or so) actually appear? None hadto cancel out?Where any added to the roster after the programme went to press?

Peter: As far as I can remember, everyone listed appeared, and theprogram was so tight there was no room for late additions.

Sharon: Did every event go to plan? What about that one event, where agentleman, Gary B. Jones, was to attempt to deliver the longestpolitical speech on record to enter the Guinness Book of World Records?The booklet says that the previous record holder was from 1978 and for33 hours and 5 minutes. Mr. Jones wanted to take 34 hours to "get hismessage across" which was to beg for "A Pardon for Ned."
Inquiring mindswant to know!

Peter: I'm not as sure about every event as there was too much happeningfor me to keep track of but I don't think Mr Jones turned up. I seem toremember some dispute over who was to pay his fare out to Australia.

[Note from Sharon: the festival booklet stated that "Gary B. Jones ofAnchorage, Alaska, has flown here at his own expense to beg a 'pardonfor Ned'.." so perhaps the dispute occurred before the festival andafter the booklet went to press.]

Sharon: What about the forum led by Dr. John McQuilton? How did thatgo?Peter: It did, and again I have no recollection of these specificevents.

Sharon: Do you recall which historical Ned Kelly films where shownduring the Film Show on the Saturday?

Peter: I don't but I do believe it happened.

Sharon: Everyone I have talked to about this has expressed the desireto see a festival like this happen again so they can attend. What is youradvice to anyone who would ever consider trying to put on an event ofthis size and scope?

Peter: Make sure your big ideas are backed up by big and reliablefinance and marketing.

Sharon: I really appreciate the way that all sorts of historicalbackground of the Kelly's are included in this souvenir programme booklet. It
was very well done! I even liked the advertisements in it and how most werealong the lines of the Kelly theme, such as the Olympic Bushranger Tyresat "prices so reasonable even Ned Kelly would have paid 'em" or LiptonTea "A brew..as bold as Ned Kelly." Then we have an ad for the updated(1980) edition of Ned Kelly: Man and Myth on offer for $5.95! (Justrecently saw an earlier edition on ebay go for $60.99!!!!!!!). So tellme, who was the mastermind behind the souvenir programme?

Peter: A guy from Melbourne, Dan Hellier, who now runs Publicity Works.The advertising was handled by a woman whose first name is Jane (I can'tremember her last name). I wrote and organised most of the content.

Sharon: Peter, I want to thank you for being so helpful and so nice tome.You have been a most gracious gentleman and I am happy to have made youracquaintance. In closing is there anything you wish to say about thefestival and your part in it that I have not touched on here?

Peter: I don't have any photos of the event. I am normally an avidphotographer but I must have been too pre-occupied at the time to takeany but I'd would love to see any some time.

Peter in armour

[Note from Sharon: Just prior to this story being run, I had mentioned
to Brian McDonald about what I was writing about and he
sent in a photo
of a scene from one of the Festival's Kelly re-enactments which he found
in an issue of "Two Hundred Years" put out by Bay Books, circa 1988.
Issue #45 had a piece on "Festive Occasions" and was where he found
it!
Thanks, Brian!]

A photo of the actual festival!

Many thanks to Peter Galvin for his time and cooperation.

Thanks also to Brian McDonald for being both generous
and eagle-eyed!
:)

And last, but never least, thanks to Dave White for getting me a copy of
the Festival booklet and for always being willing to give me a showcase
for my writings.

Sunday, November 4, 2018

Note that this article was written for the now defunct glenrowan1880 website back in September of 2008. I used what resources I had to hand back then but there may be more out there now that Trove and other books and resources are so readily available.

DID THEY REALLY FIRE 15,000 ROUNDS AT THE SIEGE OF GLENROWAN?

BY SHARON HOLLINGSWORTH

Have you ever wondered about how many rounds were fired during the
Siege of Glenrowan?

I never did, until I read an article back in May of 2008 wherein the
project director of the Glenrowan Inn Dig said that the siege was a
"brutal gun battle" in which "15,000 rounds were fired." To be fair,
another article stated that "up to 15,000" rounds were fired (so that
gives a slight leeway).

I have no idea where he got that figure from, whether it was from a
book, the archives, or from an historian (and if so, where did
they get it?). I had an immediate kneejerk reaction and knew that the
figure had to have been grossly inflated. It has been on my mind ever
since then, so I decided to look at the facts and figures to see if it were even
possible to have that much firing going on.

First, we need to find out the number of "combatants" involved. There
were 4 members of the Kelly Gang, of course, but let's see how many
police arrived...Superintendent Hare arrived at 3 AM with 7 policemen, along with Sub-Inspector O'Connor and his 5 black trackers. Hare subsequently left the field of battle early on after getting wounded. There were also 4 members of the press and a civilian (Rawlins) who all were able to shoot if necessary, and if arms were available (newspaper reporter Joe Melvin came with his own revolver). Reinforcements did not arrive until after the 5 AM hour when Steele
arrived on horseback with his Wangaratta contingent (with 2 arriving
by train) and Bracken who had ridden there to alert them (this makes 8). Sadleir also arrived during the 5 AM hour with 11 policemen, 2 black trackers and
3 civilians (among those Jesse Dowsett), and around 9 AM Mullane
arrived with 10 more police. A handful more (about 4) showed up at
Noon and Standish and Ward were the latest arrivals, coming to
Glenrowan when it was all over. Given the number of police plus the
outlaws (and taking civilians and reporters out of the equation),
let's distill it down to a good round number we can work with for the sake of argument, maybe say 55 total combatants (your mileage may vary!).

We have established the timeframe for the earliest arrivals at around
3 AM. The end would have been sometime past 3 PM when the Inn was
fired (accounts vary as to the exact time of the firing of it), so it
was around a 12 hour event.

So, our parameters are set. If 15,000 rounds were fired in 12 hours
that would mean that each of the approximate 55 combatants would have
had to have fired on average 273 rounds for the 12 hours, or approximately 23
rounds each per hour. Of course, even allowing for reloading time, it
would be easy for an individual to fire 23 rounds an hour for a
sustained period of twelve hours, but in this case it is not possible
given the other variables present. As shown above, many arrived on the
scene late, and were present for less than 12 hours. No one fired for
anything like twelve hours continuously as there were long lulls in
the firing. Ned himself was hors de combat after five hours and Joe
Byrne was shot and killed even before then.
As for the police, O'Connor testified to the Royal Commission Board that the heaviest firing of the day was before any reinforcements at all had arrived. There was one man there who bragged that he had fired around a hundred rounds that day, BUT there were many who testified that they fired much less and there were many of the police who did not fire a single shot during the entire siege!

The reason why some did not fire at all was that the weapons they had were of no use against the building (such as the breech loading double barrelled shot guns, Spencer rifles and Webley or Colt revolvers), they would only be of
use if the gang were to come outside. Those that had the long
Martini-Henry rifles and the shorter Martini-Henry carbines, and
Snider rifles (O'Connor and his trackers had the latter) were able to
fire at the Inn with effectiveness.

What Sub-Inspector Montfort had later said to the Royal Commission
about the the police in the NE District is very interesting: "They are
armed like a Turkish brigade, with all kinds of weapons." He had
suggested that all the men should be issued Martini-Henry carbines
(supposedly for ease of use and carrying and to make resupply of
ammunition easier too..more on the ammo in a bit..).

Let's look at some more of the information I have gleaned from the
Minutes of Evidence Taken Before Royal Commission On The Police Force
Of Victoria:

During the first volley fired, when there were not so
many on the battleground, it was estimated by one policemen that the
gang fired 40 or 50 shots and that the police fired twice as many.

Constable William Duross said he fired 24 or 25 cartridges from a
Spencer repeating rifle.

Constable Thomas Dowling says he fired about 100 rounds, but that "I
believe several of them did not fire so many."

Constable Arthur had a Martini-Henry Carbine and was served out with
20 rounds when he left Benalla and "kept nearly all of it." He claimed
to have fired 10 rounds at the verandah when the gang had come out and
then Constable Kelly later gave him another 5 rounds.

One man said he fired his Spencer rifle 3 or 4 times (that would be
around 21 cartridges).

Constable Kirkham was armed with a Martini-Henry rifle and testified
that he might have used 40 rounds and had 2 revolvers that he did not
fire at all.

Constable Barry said that he fired 25 shots from a Martini carbine.

Constable Reilly testified that he did not fire at all as he had a
double-barrelled breechloader.

In Hare's party, only he and Constable Canny had the double barrelled
shotguns, and in the Wangaratta contingent, Steele and some of his men
(including Dwyer, who also had a Colt revolver) had them also, but
others in the party had the long Martini-Henry and "old Enfield
rifles".

Constable Phillips had the Martini-Henry rifle and Sr. Constable Kelly
had the Martini Carbine.

So, we have established that many of the police did not fire at all
and those that did seemed to have fired much less than 100 rounds
each.

Also, they did not fire continuously, they were instructed to only
fire when the outlaws came to the doors or windows or when the gang
fired at them. They were also told to open fire in order to give
cover, such as when Constable Johnston set fire to the Inn, though
some did fire at other times. It was reported that the trackers did
indiscriminate and heavy firing and a few days after the siege one of
the constables who revisited the siege site found many shell casings
in the trench or what the Commission (and others) referred to as "the
drain."

Regarding the ammunition situation, the regulation number of rounds was:
20 balls Martini....24 for guns....18 for revolvers.

However, they got extra ammunition during the siege.

George Allen said that he and the other reporters on the platform "had
emptied the [train] van of all its contents, the luggage and
ammunition, and stuff to find ammunition for the men, a lot of the
saddles and stuff, and piled those up.."

A telegram was sent to Benalla to send up more ammunition, also.

According to Sgt. Whelan, there was a small cask with Martini-Henry
and Carbine Rifle ammunition (which held 500 rounds) and not all of
that was used and there was lots of loose ammunition besides that.

Reporter McWhirter testified that:

"Many of the men had taken wrong ammunition with them, and the
consequences was that they had to send back for ammunition, and Mr.
Melvin and myself sorted the carbine and Martini Henry ammunition and
gave it out to the men as the messengers came to the station for it."

Rawlins took the first lot out (and had taken the wrong kind and had
to go back for the correct kind...I am wondering if that is what
McWhirter might have been referring to? or was it a separate event?)
and then Sr. Constable Kelly took some around and Phillips came for
ammo.

One of the Royal Commissioners made this statement about the Glenrowan
siege: "It has been stated there was a great deal of ammunition
uselessly expended there."

That statement may be true, but there is no way that 15,000 rounds
were expended given all the evidence!

Something that Max Brown said in "Australian Son" about the sending
for of a cannon to blow down the Inn to get Steve and Dan to surrender
sounds slightly more reasonable as to how much firepower and ordance
might have been used that day (at least on the police end):

"As if 2,000 bullets and fifty troopers were not enough!"

If that figure is close to being right (and I have no idea if it is or
not, even considering all the criteria from above), then I seriously
doubt that the 4 outlaws fired off the remaining 13,000 rounds!

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Dr. Stuart Dawson, who is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Monash University, has become well known in Kelly circles as being something of a meticulous myth buster. His latest effort is a blog post examining and challenging the popular notion that Ned Kelly's famed "Last Stand" with police at Glenrowan lasted half an hour. Stuart has compared reports and eyewitness testimonies and has come up with a far different timeline. It is entitled "How Long Was Ned Kelly's Last Stand?" and can be read over at https://kellylegend.blogspot.com/2018/11/how-long-was-ned-kellys-last-stand.html

Other myth busting efforts Stuart has done (not including all of the varied comments he has made at the Kelly Legend Blog) are as follows -

Professor Molony, I would like to take this opportunity tothank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit with ushere at Glenrowan1880. It is truly an honour.For those who perhaps are not familiar with your academic career,I will take a moment to give just a few of your impressive credentialsif I may.John Neylon Molony has previously been Professor of History and ManningClark Professor of Australian History at the Australian NationalUniversity, Canberra, Keith Cameron Professor of Australian History atUniversity College, Dublin and Foundation Research Professor of theAustralian Catholic University. He is currently Visiting Fellow,Australian Dictionary of Biography, at the Australian NationalUniversity.

Now on to my questions.

DAVE WHITE: Professor Molony, your book, "I am Ned Kelly" (1980,reissued as "Ned Kelly," 2001) is a seminal work, a true classic in itsfield. It is very well researched, and in it you present manyinteresting theories, some in variance to other modern Kelly authors. Inthe preface you state: "In the end it all remained a matter of trying tounderstand, to unravel the tangled skein of a life over which legendcast its spell so that reality has become secondary." It does seem thatNed Kelly took on the status of legend and myth even while he lived. Youhave done much to give us all a greater understanding of Ned Kelly, theman, especially as concerns the Irish Catholic aspect of his background.Much of that information I found to be quite illuminating.I would like to ask you when was it that you decided to do a biographyof Ned Kelly? Up until that point, did Ned Kelly have a hold on yourimagination or have a special significance to you (as an historian)?Also, has your interest in (or love for) Ned's story diminished at allsince the publication of "I am Ned Kelly" 25 years ago?

JOHN MOLONY: I decided to write my Kelly book in 1978 as a reaction toa decision taken by a Victorian anniversaries committee not to commemorate the centenary of Ned's death in 1980. To the members of that committee Ned wasunworthy of any recognition, but to me any attempt to eliminate hismemory was both absurd and futile.It was absurd because most Australians, irrespective of whether theyjudge Ned harshly or favourably, accept that his memory is woven into thepsyche of the nation. It was futile because legends are created by thepeople as a kind of spontaneous response to a phenomenon that strikes achord in their being. Ned is an Australian legend and the people willnot relinquish their legends at the whim of right-minded, butunrepresentative, conservatives. "As brave as Ned Kelly" is not a phraselightly lost.Up to the time of my decision to write about Ned I had been uneasy abouthim because he did not fit into the framework of my own Irish Catholicbackground, which was essentially middle class and conformist. I wasonly vaguely aware of the harshness pervading the economic and socialcircumstances that had shaped Ned and entirely ignorant of thepersecution to which the Kelly clan had been subjected by the police andother authorities. It had struck me as odd that no academic historianhad written a life of Kelly. Why were they silent on a national figure?I can only say that my respect for Ned has in no sense diminished and Ihold him in higher esteem than I did in the 1980s. I do so because Ihave become more fully aware of how anyone who departs from the norm,much more anyone who rejects the norm, suffers when the organs of wealthand so called respectability are fused in support of a governmentdetermined to control society according to its own standards. For onelike Ned the situation becomes far worse when the authorities concludethat they must protect society from anyone they judge to be a threat toits well-being.

DAVE WHITE: How long did "I am Ned Kelly" take from the first bit ofresearch to the last touches on the manuscript when it was finallypronounced finished? Of course, all that was being done between yourfamily and work obligations, too, wasn't it? Not an easy task, I amsure, as I am finding out for myself as I work on a book.

JOHN MOLONY: Throughout the two and a half years I spent in researchingand writing Ned I was mostly confined to my desk in Canberra as head of the HistoryDepartment here at the Australian National University. However I enjoyedthe inestimable assistance of Robin Carter who undertook a great deal ofuseful research for me in Melbourne and especially in the StateArchives. The involvement of my family was a day-to-day affair and Idedicated my Ned to my four children. I left the dedication of my bookon Eureka to my wife who was born in Ballarat.It was never an easy task to write about Ned. We must remember that Nedpartly became a legend because others spoke on his behalf and they beganto do so in ballads even in his own lifetime. Except in the Jerilderieletter and when he was in the dock, Ned had few chances to speak forhimself. Those who persecuted him, the police and the government,created his records, as well as those of his mates and of his people.This helps to explain why it is not easy to come close to Ned becausemuch of what we know of him is coloured by the way his enemies have toldtheir own crooked story of him.Sidney Nolan told me that he was driven by a sense of guilt because hisgrandfather was one of the police who hunted Ned. As a result herepeatedly struggled valiantly in his endeavour to make Ned live alittle for us. Yet it happens often in his paintings that you look atthe helmet and Ned is not there - you see through the helmet andthere is only the land. Nolan wanted it that way and I am sure Ned, wholoved the land, would accept that Sid did it well. But to me theimportant thing is that we all share a kind of empty legend. That makesit possible for us to fill it out with the Ned who says something to usand to the land from which he sprang.

DAVE WHITE: The Siege of Glenrowan has always been the most fascinatingaspect of the Kelly story to me. Could you give us a brief overview/synopsis ofthe Siege and Ned Kelly's Last Stand from your point of view telling uswhat it means to you and also why the event was so important from anhistorical viewpoint? Also, Professor, the theory put forth about the"rebellion" Ned had planned has always perplexed me. Could you shed somelight on this? Also do you think that documentation for this rebellionactually exists?

JOHN MOLONY: In all that I wrote about Ned I took his own account ofhis life as my starting point. In other words I believed what he said of himself andcontinued to do so unless I found evidence to the contrary. I nevercaught him out in a lie. As an example, I believed Ned when he wrote inthe Jerilderie letter that he was not in Victoria when Fitzpatrickvisited the Greta home on 15 April 1878. All the evidence proved thatFitzpatrick was both a scoundrel and a liar and it was inconceivable tome that Ned could have stood within a few feet of the constable, shot athim several times in a room half full of women and children, missed histarget but hit him in the wrist. It sounded like a stupidly foolishconcoction to me, which Fitzpatrick had to make up to explain why he wasat the home in the first place as well as to cover his tracks in case hewas accused of attempting to rape Kate. In other words I believed Nedand there is evidence for my belief. I find it incomprehensible whyanyone would accept the word of Fitzpatrick rather than that of Nedabout an incident bearing all the hallmarks of a lie.We must put the Siege at Glenrowan in its proper context and see it alsoin the light of what we know of Ned's personality. The context is one ofsheer desperation. Things had gone on and on without resolve. MeanwhileMrs Kelly languished in prison. The police were clearly incompetent andthe likelihood that they would ever catch the boys unless they gavethemselves up was increasingly remote. The matter had to be brought to ahead, but on Ned's terms and Glenrowan seemed the solution. We know thatit was unlikely to have succeeded, but to Ned something had to be tried.The one discordant note is the intended murder of unsuspecting policeand completely innocent civilians. The scenario does not fit Ned'spersonality in any sense. In cold blood he could have killed McIntyre;he could have killed police and civilians at any time and especially inJerilderie. He killed when his own life was at stake and that onlyhappened at Stringybark Creek. The whole incident at Glenrowan with thetrain and the rails is explicable and I have endeavoured to make it soin my chapter - A Still, Cold Night. Again I cannot understand somewriters who put themselves forward as Ned's defenders, but make him outas cold-blooded monster intent on murder. Had he been that, I for onewould have not written a single line about him. Is it possible that theydo so because they want to make Ned out to be what he was not a manintent on overthrowing all the structures of society and thus usingbloody means to do so? A member of the Kelly clan told me that he had seen an old exercise booksome years later in which he saw minutes of the meetings at which arebellion and republic of the northeast had been planned. That Ned, andothers, with either memories or knowledge of Ireland and its miseries,were capable of conceiving such a plan is clearly possible. That theycarried it beyond hope is a matter requiring further study and research.

DAVE WHITE: Professor Molony, do you ever get up to Glenrowan and theenvirons these days? Do you attend any Kelly events? What about the 2003Ned Kelly movie? Did you see it? Do you try to keep up with all thelatest doings in the Kelly world?

JOHN MOLONY: I passed through Glenrowan a year or so ago, but generallyI have little to do with anything pertaining to Ned although my interest in himremains undiminished. I did not see the film, but I am sorry it was notas successful as many hoped it would be. Perhaps that is an example ofwhat I mean when I say that it is not easy to come close to Ned whoremains his own man. However, I am vain enough to think that I did mybest for his memory and that best, humble as it is, has endured.It is for others now to take the legend further, but it must be made tolive or it will die. Ned abhorred injustice and thirsted after justicefor himself and for others. He did not think of it that way, but at theleast he knew what it was to get less than a fair go and he reacted whenhe saw others, especially his own people getting anything but a fair go.Perhaps that is the key to why Ned's legend endures. The danger is that,if we leave it as a hollow affirmation, the legend of Ned will itselfbegin to ring as futile and the people will forget him in time. Thereare some questions we could ask which are not far from Ned and his time.Are we just to the poor, or are we allowing the gap between the poor andthe rich to get wider every year? Are we prepared to continue as anation bowed down in subservience to a seemingly greater power whosebidding we do even when it results in injustice to others? Will we standup and struggle for a republic of the free, or will we acquiesce inremaining tied to a distant and meaningless monarchy? Have we been justto those who fled here as refugees? Will we treat those we accuse ofbeing terrorists with justice?They are a few of the problems that face our society, but Ned would nothave stood idly by or remained mute before them. We cannot give flesh tohis legend by mere words, writing about him and speaking about him. Hewanted a changed and better society - what do we want?

DAVE WHITE: I know that you have written several books. Besides the oneon Ned, you are well known for authoring "Eureka" (1984, reissued in2001). I am also aware that you have a very active interest in theevents surrounding the Eureka Stockade and that you have been involvedwith the Eureka Stockade Memorial Trust. Surely last year, 2004, was amost exciting and busy one for you as the Eureka 150th anniversary wascelebrated. Would you care to tell us a bit about your work with theTrust? Also, if I am not mistaken, in 2006 Ballarat will be the hostcity for the World Conference of Historical Cities. That should do muchto project the Eureka Stockade and its significance onto theinternational stage. To your knowledge are there any "Eureka" themedevents planned to capitalise on that function?

JOHN MOLONY: I wrote my Eureka almost in the same context as I did myNed. To me both have become legends that are closely related to the development ofAustralian nationality. Because Eureka is seen, rightly, as thebirthplace of our democracy, it is assuming a formative and educativerole in our society.My grandfather was a young digger in the Stockade on the morning of 3December 1854 when the military and police murdered at least thirtydiggers. Thus I am a member of Eureka's Children, which is a body thatwelcomes anyone descended from those connected with Eureka in 1854. TheTrust, based in Ballarat, is now known as an Association. It is theprincipal body devoted to Eureka. It has been chiefly responsible forthe development of the new Stockade and it was heavily involved in theevents at the end of last year when we celebrated the 150th anniversaryof Eureka. They were a resounding success.Both the Association and Eureka's Children are trying to make a concretecontribution to Australian democracy. Recently the Association has beeninvolved in procuring a scholarship for a young student from West Papuato enroll at one of our universities. Clearly, both bodies willcontribute positively and significantly to the World Conference ofHistorical Cities to be held in Ballarat in 2006. Without Eureka thesignificance of Ballarat would scarcely warrant its recognition on aworld scale any more than other cities such as Bendigo or Ararat basedon their connection with gold. It is Eureka that makes Ballarat uniquein Australia.

DAVE WHITE: Other than Ned Kelly and the Eureka Stockade, you have manyvaried interests, ranging from Australian Rules Football to promotingItalian culture through the Dante Alighieri Society. You do lectures andpresentations, give speeches, and write articles, as well as write booksas alluded to above. You have had over a dozen different book titles inprint, haven't you? I have mentioned the Ned and Eureka ones, and amworking up to discussing your autobiography in a bit, but do you haveany other titles you would like to make mention of that the readersmight find of interest?

JOHN MOLONY: Despite my writing the semi-official history of Australiafor our bicentenary in 1988 [The Penguin Bicentennial History of Australia] Ithink my book, The Native-Born : the first white Australians,published by Melbourne University Press in 2000, will eventually bejudged as my most significant original contribution to the writing ofAustralian history. I say this because the native-born had never beengiven the serious consideration they deserve for their contribution tothe making of our nation. More than any other element, including theconvict element, they made us what we in large measure remain today.Two other books were of some significance. My The Roman Mould of theAustralian Catholic Church [MUP 1969] helped to change the popularjudgement of the Catholic Church in Australia from seeing it as anexclusively Irish phenomenon to understanding it as part of theRomanization of the Church in the English speaking world in the 19thcentury. An Architect of Freedom- John Hubert Plunkett in New SouthWales1832 to 1869 [ANU Press, 1973] explored the transition of earlyAustralia from a convict prison to a free society. As Attorney General,Plunkett's task was to guide that transition under the rule of law. Histragedy was that he never succeeded, despite repeated and courageousattempts, to include the Aboriginal even though he sent seven white mento the gallows for the murder of thirty Aboriginals at Myall Creek inNew South Wales in 1838. He repeatedly tried to have Aboriginal evidenceaccepted in the courts, but was rebuffed both in Sydney and London.I have always been intensely interested in struggles for freedom andagainst tyranny. For that reason I wrote a history of a political partyin Italy that fought against Mussolini's fascist dictatorship, but waseventually done to death in 1926. Despite its unfortunate and wordytitle The emergence of political Catholicism in Italy- Partito Popolare1919-1926, [Croom Helm, London, 1977] the book is now recognized as theprincipal contribution to our knowledge of that important politicalparty which, under Alcide De Gasperi, in the post war period, defendedItaly from a Communist takeover.In somewhat the same vein I wrote a life of the noble Irish Protestantpatriot, A soul came into Ireland - Thomas Davis [Geography Press,Dublin, 1995]. In 1995 on the 15th anniversary of Davis's death, thebook was launched at Trinity College Dublin where Davis was educated, bythe then Prime Minister of Ireland. Davis is chiefly remembered today byhis splendid and ringing ballad, 'A nation once again' which is stillsung in Ireland and in parts of the world to which the Irish migrated.My interest in the workers' movements as expressed at a political leveland in the trade unions led me to study the making of an encyclical byPope Leo XIII which was the first treatment of the worker question bythe papacy. The book was entitled The Worker Question: a new historicalperspective on 'Rerum Novarum' [Collins Dove, 1991] I had to spend ayear researching the extensive material on the background to, andwriting of, the encyclical held in the Vatican Archives in Rome.Published in 1891 the encyclical is the foundation stone of all papalteaching on the social question and on social justice.In the near future Australian Scholarly Publishing will bring out myAustralia our Heritage. It is a history of Australia with a long chapterat the beginning dealing with the civilization of the Aboriginal peoplebefore white settlement. I preferred to use Heritage rather than Historybecause too frequently we regard our past, though we may treasure it, asof no consequence in the present. We inherit the past and we are made byit. Our history is our most important heritage as a nation.

DAVE WHITE: I have read with interest where you have donated decadesworth of your papers, correspondence, lecture material, reports,manuscript drafts, research materials and the like to the NationalLibrary of Australia. What a wonderful gesture and a generous gift.Being an historian, you are well aware of the importance andsignificance of documenting a well-lived life for posterity. To thatend, you have also written and recently published "Luther's Pine: AnAutobiography" (Pandanus Books, 2004). It tells of your childhood on afarm in Victoria and how you and your family managed to survive theGreat Depression and all about your life up until the day you wereordained as a Catholic priest in 1950. It sounds like a very moving andinspiring story. Would you like to tell our readers something more aboutthe book? Also would you tell the readers what the title "Luther's Pine"is in reference to? And, lastly, Professor, might we expect a follow upautobiography detailing your life in the Church, your leaving of thepriesthood, your illustrious career in academics and all other aspectsup to the present day?I am sure it would make for a fascinating read!

JOHN MOLONY: Luther's Pine has been well reviewed and Phillip Adamsinterviewed me about it on Australia Day. I am now researching my correspondence with aview to a further volume. When Martin Luther visited Rome as a youngmonk in 1519 he is said to have stood under a pine looking over at StPeters and the Vatican and praying that he would not be corrupted by themorals of the Roman clergy. In 1947, when I was a young student for thepriesthood in Rome, I often stood under the same pine, by then ancientand leaning so badly that scaffolding held it up. I also prayed. Thepine is long since gone. It was removed to prevent its falling on thosewho stood under it!

DAVE WHITE: Professor Molony, I wish to again thank you for your timeand for your willingness to answer the questions I have presented, youare truly a scholar and a gentleman.I hope to speak with you again soon.

I would also like to thank Sharon Hollingsworth for her assistance in the formulating of these questions for Professor Molony.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

The
Siege of Glenrowan had been in full swing and Ned Kelly himself was
already captured and Joe Byrne was confirmed dead by the time a train
arrived that Monday morning, June 28, 1880 around 9 AM carrying police
reinforcements from Beechworth. Along for the ride were three civilians -
Jack Sherritt (Aaron Sherritt's brother) and two men connected with the
post & telegraph office. One of them was Henry Edwin Cheshire,
Beechworth's postmaster and the other was William Osborne, telegraph
line-repairman.

Cheshire had been the telegraph operator to
first relay news on Sunday the 27th to the authorities of Aaron
Sherritt's murder which had occurred the previous night.

Prior
to the arrival of Cheshire and Osborne news of the siege had to be
carried out by train or horseback and then telegraphed from other towns
that had telegraph stations, which Glenrowan did not. However, telegraph
lines ran right past the railway station and due to the ingenuity and
enterprise of Cheshire & Osborne they made real-time on the ground
reporting a reality for the gentlemen of the press as well as made communication for the police much easier.

The Railway Station at Glenrowan featuring the telegraph pole William Osborne climbed. Photographer: J. Bray. First published July 5, 1880. Courtesy of State Library Victoria.

In two separate, but similar, written narratives, Cheshire details his role in the Glenrowan affair.

The Williamstown Chronicle of July 10, 1880 states -

"Mr. H. E. Cheshire, who for many years was stationed at Williamstown, but is now in-charge of the Beechworth post

and
telegraph office writing relative to the recent Kelly tragedy, says: On
Sunday when we got word of the gang being at the Woolshed 4 miles from here, and that they had shot Sherritt, the excitement was fearful, of course the wires were kept going as hard as we could lick, but
my operator and I proved ourselves equal to the occasion. On Monday
morning when we heard they were all down at Glenrowan, and playing high
jinks, I determined to take down a small pocket telegraph instrument,
cut the wires there, and put the place in telegraphic communication.
We were successful in completing It under showers of bullets from the
outlaws who were in Jones' hotel, about 90 yards from where
I was, a bullet came very adjacent to me that was all, the excitement
was intense, I went down with the police, took a revolver with me in
case of coming to close quarters. But Kelly was wounded and captured by the time we got down, and was in the building where I was all day, I had a lot of conversation with him, he
is a good looking fellow and very civil to talk to. Kate Kelly and her
other two sisters came during the day to nurse Ned. She is a nice
looking girl. Byrne was brought in dead during the afternoon and was
lying at my feet the rest of the day. Mr. James thanked and complimented
me freely on behalf of the Department for the action I had taken."

In
a memorandum sent to the Postmaster General dated June 29, 1880 which
is part of the Kelly Reward Board papers Cheshire states -

"...Early
on Monday morning we got word of the Glenrowan affair, there being no
telegraphic communication with that place, and having small pocket
instrument here I determined to accompany the police to the scene of
trouble. We left here at 7:45 AM taking line repairer Osborne. On
arrival we cut Number 3 wire whilst bullets were flying about in all
directions and led into a room at the railway station about 90 yards
from where the outlaws were under cover at Jones' Hotel, and were
immediately in through communication which was constantly availed of by
press, public and police, everything worked well but being alone all day
I found it somewhat difficult under the disadvantages I had to work the
room being constantly besieged by people eager to see the dead body of
Byrne which was at my feet and Ned Kelly being wounded in the next
room..."

In the Argus of July 30, 1880 there was an article about the monthly meeting of The Victorian Telegraph Electrical Society.

In part it said -

"The hon. secretary of the society then read a communication from Mr. H. E. Cheshire,detailing his adventures at Glenrowan during the fight

with
the Kelly gang. Mr. Cheshire volunteered to accompany the police party
from Beechworth in search of the gang, and with the assistance of Mr. Osborne, the telegraph line-repairer who climbed the telegraph pole at Glenrowan
amidst a storm of bullets succeeded in opening a special office, and
communicated direct to Melbourne full particulars of the affair, nearly
100,000 words of press news being telegraphed. Mr.

Cheshire's experience was justly looked on as a remarkable instance of what may happen to a telegraph operator in Victoria."

There was this bit in the Weekly Times of July 10, 1880 -

"In connection with the Kelly tragedy very little mention is made of Mr. Osborne, the line repairer, who pluckily climbed the telegraph
pole at Glenrowan, and affixed a wire to the railway line, from whence
it was carried into the station-master's room, where a pocket instrument
was unflaggingly worked by Mr. H. Cheshire, of Beechworth. Mr. Osborne,
during the time he was climbing the pole, became a target for the
outlaws' guns; and more credit is due to him in consequence of his being obliged to repeat the same performance some hours after, when the fixings got out of repair."

The
only thing I could find that might possibly confirm that second climb
is a letter to the editor in the Herald of November 14, 1930 entitled
"Memories of the Kelly Gang Capture." It was from Alfred Tymms, who was
an 11 year old telegraph messenger (his father was postmaster at
Heathcote) at the time of the siege. The news summoning police came
through their station. He mentioned Mr. Cheshire -

"Some time after this we had a relieving
postmaster, Mr. Harry Cheshire, at Heathcote. He was the man who went
with the police train from Beechworth and he showed me all the notes he
had how he erected the wires at Glenrowan and the engine fouled them,
and he had to erect them again and put on his field telegraph to send
the Press messages to Melbourne from the Glenrowan railway station,
which had no telegraph installed then."

According
to the Victoria Govt Gazette of April 1, 1881, Mr. Cheshire was
appointed acting Receiving and Paymaster at Heathcote during the absence
of Henry Tymms, so this would seem to verify this account.

All
of these letters and articles are full of exciting and fascinating
stuff. First, this guy, Cheshire, had a taste for adventure and actually
was value added to the situation. According to The Herald newspaper
there were 90,000 words telegraphed to Sydney papers alone, while the
article above says over 100,000 words sent. Just imagine how many went
to the Melbourne papers with the operative word being "over." This guy
did all of the telegraphic work himself on a pocket key instrument, not a
full size regular one that would have been much easier to use. Pocket
keys were generally meant to be used by line repairmen to diagnose
trouble on the line. As an aside, the cutting in to a telegraph wire to
gain communication was something that was done by Confederates during
the American Civil War. What they would do was throw a wire over the
telegraph lines, cut into one, and tap in to the break with a pocket key
like Cheshire had. The Rebels with the aid of trained telegraphers who
were sympathetic to the Cause would listen in on transmissions and would
find out troop movements or would intercept messages and then send on
their own bogus ones (causing encryption to eventually come into play)
and at times just for the heck of it they would actually heckle the
operator who was transmitting at the time. Too bad the Kelly gang did
not have a telegraph operator as a sympathiser! All the gang could do
all along previous to Glenrowan was chop down the poles (lucky for them
they were still wood, later on many would be replaced with iron ones),
cut the lines or smash the instruments. According to Supt. Hare in his memoir "Last of the Bushrangers", there
were even some occurrences of telegraph service being interrupted during
the Kelly hunt at a certain spot every night for a certain amount of
time and the authorities surmised that it was due to someone throwing a
wire over the line and then grounding it, thus affecting the service
between towns. In one particular instance, with Mr. Hare in attendance, a
linesman had actually been hoisted up to test the wires to see if if
current was being passed through.....by holding the wire between his
teeth! Yes, remarkable things really do happen to Victorian telegraph
workers.

But back to the siege, I am surprised that members of
the public were allowed use of the telegraphic services during that
time. I would think that it would be reserved solely for police,
government, railway and press use only (hello, Mr. Melvin!).

Also
of interest was where Joe Byrne's body laid at Cheshire's feet while he
worked. Cheshire sent out word of the Gang's capture and demise with
one of them literally dead at his feet. Quite the image.
Also, odd is
the letting in of any Tom, Dick or Harry who wanted to see the body and
pester Ned. Amazing, as these days the traps would have a perimeter set
up a mile away you would not be able to cross!

Mr. Cheshire's Kelly Reward claim says -

"I
have the honor to inform the Board that I voluntarily accompanied the
police from Beechworth to Glenrowan on the 29th [note - this should have
been 28th] June last and opened up up telegraphic communication there,
and myself telegraphed the intelligence for the Government and press
throughout the day and shall feel grateful to the Board for any thing
they may be pleased to award me for this service..."

He
continued on with a brazen request for the Kelly Reward Board itself to
recommend that the Postmaster General give him a promotion!

The cover memo on Mr. Cheshire's Reward Board claim reads -

"This
applicant, a telegraph operator voluntarily accompanied the police from
Beechworth to Glenrowan on the morning of the 28th June and opened up
telegraphic communication and himself telegraphed intelligence to the
Govt and the press throughout the day at considerable risk...."

Beneath that there is this-

"Mr.
Hare reports - Mr. Cheshire arrived at Glenrowan after I had left the
ground and I can give no information concerning his services."

"Supt.
Sadleir reports - Mr. Cheshire as well as all other telegraphic
officers in the district showed whenever required very great alacrity
and zeal in assisting the police. Mr. Cheshire's attention on the 27th
of June 1880 no doubt was the means of placing the police in a position
to act earlier by several hours than if they received no information of
Sherritt's murder until the evening.

The services rendered
subsequently at Glenrowan while adding greatly to the public
convenience and also to the convenience of the police did not in any way
aid towards the capture of the gang. Mr. Cheshire was in little or no
danger while at Glenrowan."

Ok, it sounds like Sadleir
is trolling him just a little bit. All of that we were in mortal danger
as we set things up and a bullet came that close makes the story sound
good, though, when you tell it to others, doesn't it?

If you really want trolling, then wait to see how Sadleir hands William Osborne his rear so to speak.

One letter in Cheshire's Kelly Reward Board file says "I am also
informed that his [Cheshire's] line repairer, Osborne, displayed much
zeal and energy and rendered valuable help."

As for
William Osborne's Kelly Reward Claim, his file did not have his direct
claim but there was a letter to the Deputy Postmaster General giving
nearly the same spiel Cheshire did in his claim sans the promotion
request and asking him to "bring my services rendered on that occasion
under the notice of the Kelly Reward Board."

The cover sheet for Osborne's Kelly Reward claim has this summation -

"This
applicant, a telegraph line repairer puts forth his claim as having
accompanied Mr. Cheshire to Glenrowan on the morning of the 28th of June
and assisted in opening up telegraphic communication in Glenrowan."

Beneath that there is this -

"Supt. Hare reports - I know nothing of this applicant, he arrived on the ground after I left."

"Supt.
Sadleir reports - His claim as to services were inconsiderable nor
could I see that he was in any special danger for the few moments he was
connecting the wires. I am under the impression it took some persuasion
to get him to do the simple work he had to do."

Wow!
Did Sadleir just troll Osborne? Where was all of that energy and zeal?
What about all the showers of bullets...bullets flying in all
directions...a hail of bullets? If there were showers of bullets I think
anyone would need persuading to climb a pole (more than once?) and be a
target, yet Sadleir says he could not see that Osborne was in any
danger during the operation?

In Keith McMenomy's Ned Kelly: The
Authentic Illustrated Story he says that when the Beechworth contingent
arrived "as soon as they found positions they all opened heavy fire at
the almost silent building. Then Superintendent Sadleir passed an order
to 'fire high' and so spare the innocent people still lying trapped
inside. In many cases his order was misinterpreted. Some thought it
meant the outlaws were hiding in the rafters and commenced riddling the
iron roof; many thought it an order to fire harder. This and the
enthusiasm of the Beechworth men started a tremendous burst all round
the cordon. One Beechworth constable testified he fired 100 rounds at
the hotel within an hour."

So, was this the shower of
bullets that Osborne climbed the pole in? Or did he wait for the smoke
to literally clear before doing his thing? Like with anything else in
the Kelly story, there are always differing views.

At
the end of it all, despite everything, both Cheshire and Osborne
received 25 pounds each from the Kelly Reward Board. On the list of the
66 successful applicants they got the least amount coming in right under
the black trackers, who each were suppose to receive 50 pounds, but
that is a whole other kettle of fish for someone else to fry.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

What is up with all of
these folks in the Kelly world who want to sue everybody? I was under
the impression that some (but not all) in the Kelly world do not like police or
judges, or is that just the 19th century garden variety of police and
judges? Seems they want their services if they feel slighted, though.

Over at Dee's blog (kellylegend.blogspot.com)
she recently (back In August 2016) has someone talking about taking
legal action against her, and I wrote the draft of this blog post back then but only now in November getting around to using it. Others in the Kelly world have at times
threatened to sue various people over sometimes very trivial things. I
don't understand it. Then there are those who offer to meet face to face
to discuss the matter as Dee has experienced. To that, me and Grumpy
Cat both say "just say NO!"

All of these lawsuit happy folks,
are they taking a page out of the J.J. Kenneally playbook? J.J.
Kenneally, as we all know, was the author of "The Complete Inner History
of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers." In a recent comment over at
Dee's blog I told about how JJK wanted to sue Max Brown, the author of
"Australian Son" in 1949.

Here is what I had put- "Also, at trove there is an
interesting article called "Who Owns Ned Kelly?" in which it states that
Kenneally (who had sued others in the past due to copyright
infringement) was going after Max Brown to sue him, too. Max was going
to fight it on the basis that "nobody owns Ned Kelly" but it seems
that fate took a hand with the death of Kenneally in 1949 that put an
effective end to that. The article ends with "Brown....is wondering who
owns Ned Kelly now." (some of us are wondering that even NOW!)"

Ok, after I had done that posting I started looking in to Kenneally and his penchant for suing people.

In
his book he tells about suing newspapers over copyright and winning.
Looking under trove it seems that he had been taking folks to court or
facing them for things like copyright infringement, libel and slander - on that last
count one person in 1908 had called him, to his great displeasure, an
"interstate columnier" (I can't find the exact meaning for columnier,
but have seen it in centuries old texts in the context of "malicious
columner and rude reflections" and "columnier, injuries, falsities", so
we can get the basic gist of it).

He had sued others for copyright
infringement at least 9 times between 1905 and 1949. Might have been
more that did not make headlines or that were settled out of court.
Instead of letting court be the last resort, his first response seemed
to be sue them and then collect money for "damages."

In
a 1934 Age article about a then upcoming Kelly movie someone had
mistakenly reported that "Until a few years ago the Kelly house was
still standing, being used as barn." Kenneally took umbrage from that
remark. Whether it was just that someone had said the house was no
longer standing that set him off or the intimation that it had been
turned into a lowly barn, I am not sure, but both were in error. He
wound up saying the following at the end of a letter to the newspaper
concerning this mistake-

"As the
relatives and friends of the Kellys have at last lost patience with the
multitude of cowardly libellers of both the living and the dead, it is
understood that a move will be made in the near future to organize a
meeting in the Kelly country, at which a small committee of censors will
be elected, with power to take direct or indirect action against the
enemies of truth and justice."

Not
sure if that ever came to fruition. But what does he mean by direct or
indirect action (other than taking them to court)? The use of the word
"censors" is a worry, too. And worse than that, the term "small
committee." Censors and small committees are usually the tools used
against those who love truth and justice and freedom. Just sayin'.

A while back I ran across something at the Australian Archives entitled "Alleged
Libel of James Kelly, Brother of late Ned Kelly as Published in "Salt"
about how Kenneally had taken great offense at an error in an article
in a "Salt" magazine article in 1942. ("Salt" was the official journal
of the Australian Army Education Service and was non-profit.) There are
pages and pages (22) in a file about the behind the scenes dealings and
memos as concerns this action. The article in question was entitled "Robbery Under
Arms" (which I have not seen a copy of) and told about Ned and the gang.
Seems that JJK only received a copy of the magazine a year and half
later in December of 1943, probably from someone trying to be
"helpful."

He promptly wrote this to the editors on Dec 2 -

"Dear Sir,

In
your issue of "Salt" of the 20 June 42, which I received by this
morning mail, you have done violence to indisputable historical facts,
on pages 2 to 6, both inclusive, in reference to Ned, Dan, and Jim
Kelly, and their father John Kelly.

Jim Kelly is still living, and the libel which brings you within the law is contained in the following statement :

"Jim, only a year older, (than Dan) got 20 years penal servitude for robbery and violence."

Official
records definitely prove the false and malicious nature of this
statement. Jim Kelly, over 80 years old, is the most popular man today
in the Kelly country. I confidently hope that on your attention being
called to this libel you will offer through me ample reparation to Mr.
Jim Kelly.

Through my book, "The Complete Inner
History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuer," I have been recognised as
the only living reliable authority on the Kelly gang. Up-to-date, no one
has challenged a sentence in my book - now the recognised standard work
on the subject."

Three weeks
went past and he got no reply so he wrote again on Dec. 22. In that
letter he kept on about how the libel attacks the "veracity and
prestige" of his book and how the libel had damaged the value of his
copyright and so forth. He then said "My case must come first, that of
Jim Kelly will naturally follow." (my question is was Jim even consulted
about any of this?) Somewhere along the way, Kenneally even showed up
at the Melbourne offices of Salt's publisher!

After
a while "Salt" published an apology in their magazine and internal
memos show that they said "it is recommended no further action is
taken."

In one of the memos it shows where
they went to the historical archives and found that Jim had been
sentenced to five years gaol back in 1873 instead of the 20 as had been
wrongly reported. In other words, they fact-checked a bit after the
fact. (You will also remember that while Jim was sentenced to 5 years, he was out in late 1876, but he went back to gaol once again before another year was out.)

In a letter to Kenneally, "Salt" magazine said this -

"The
book of which you are the author is not referred to in the article and
your fear that the veracity and prestige of your copyright has in some
way been damaged by an erroneous statement published in Salt is
considered to be without any real foundation. It is regretted that the
error was made and it is hoped that the publication of the apology will
be satisfactory and acceptable to you."

In other words, he fought the army and the army won!

Why
could he not have politely written them pointing out the mistake and
then ask for a retraction or apology rather than just come charging out
of the chute with talk of lawsuits and wanting ample reparation and
carrying on in such a way talking about his brand being hurt and being self-appointed Kelly family censor and avenger? He wasted all of that energy, everybody's time and tons of goodwill, all over a simple mistake and misunderstanding that a soft word could have turned aside. Good grief!

Thursday, October 20, 2016

PROVEN RIGHT! THERE IS A STORY AND PHOTO IN THE NOV. 14, 2016 WANGARATTA CHRONICLE SHOWING THAT IT IS THE SAME PHOTO AS WE ALL HAD SURMISED.

The Find of the Century?

The Kelly world is all abuzz
about the alleged new Ned Kelly photo that has emerged from the
shadows. Matt Shore of Beechworth's Ned Kelly Vault has whipped everyone
into a frenzy as he has been giving tantalizing teasers about it. A precious few people have been allowed sneak peeks at it, though (but, not me). There have been news articles and
radio interviews about this find. In one of those interviews it was said that the photo
was taken in "an outside bush setting and has two men posed in period
working attire." Captain Jack Hoyle said to me a while back that it sounded
suspiciously like the alleged Ned and Dan cutting wood photo in the 2002
Christie's auction catalog (that had the Gentleman Ned photo on the cover, a photo that was proven to not be Ned after all).

Blurb from the catalog for the photo we are discussing -

"Ned and Dan Kelly Cutting Sleepers, mounted sepia print, 110x150 mm.

A
spidery blue ink inscription on the back is partly decipherable. It
appears to refer to 'Ned & Dan'. Certainly, some descendents believe
that the two men in the photo are Dan Kelly, at left, and Ned. However,
the photo itself and the men's clothing suggest a date in the 1890s,
more than 10 years after the brothers' deaths. The moustached man at the
left is too old to be Dan Kelly (he died at 19) though the second man,
with a half-grown beard, strongly resembles Ned Kelly. It is true that
while Ned Kelly was growing his beard after release from prison in
February 1874, he worked at a sawmill. But these two axemen do not look
like part of a commercial operation, and, as already noted, they wear
bush clothing that belongs to the 1890s rather than the 1870s.In
1995, Ned Kelly's niece, Elsie Pettifer, told Ian Jones that she
believed the two men to be her father, Walter Knight, and his
brother-in-law, Jack Kelly/King. Jones accepts this identification,
though Kelly pictorial expert Keith McMenomy is still tempted to believe
that the right hand figure is Ned Kelly. The photograph has never been
published. The mount is badly stained and torn but the image is
completely undamaged."

At first I
thought, hmm, maybe what the Vault has is a variation on that photo? Or a completely
different one? Could it be the same one? If the same one, why didn't any of the folks who got the early bird views tell them (that is if they even knew)? I know would have if I would have been part of that whole circle. If it is the same one, how could someone say like Matt Shore did in an interview
that "Just a few months ago nobody knew about the image." He also said
"It is quite incredible that such a photo could be held by the family
for 130 years and the public not know about it." He called it the "find
of the century" and elaborated on about how the Kelly family owner did
not want it shown online and only wanted it in a museum setting, etc.
Then John Suta was interviewed after seeing the elusive photo and said
that Ned had a paunch in it, and there is a sort of paunch on the guy
they think is Ned. He also spoke about woodlots setting and two men,
etc. Matt even mentioned the billy can and coat on the stump in the
background. I kept wondering, could it be the same photo even though
they keep saying no one has seen it save for the family and those close
to the Vault management?

While I was taking a couple of
months to mull over (ok, not mull, more like agonize over!) Capt. Jack's suggestion that I do a blog post about
this whole scenario, it seems that others had been on the hunt and turned up the
same conclusion that this could be the alleged Find of the Century
photo. Over at Dee's blog Peter Newman had suggested that the photo was
the same one. See http://kellylegend.blogspot.com/2016/10/sneak-preview.html for the blog posting. I had commented
there saying that Capt Jack and I had been on the trail and arrived at the same conclusion but I had
wrung my hands and worried about having egg on my face if this is not
the same photo or having folks upset with me for spoiling their surprise
if it was. (I told how I was glad that I was not the one to break the
story first, though I usually love to get the scoop!) I told about the scans that Capt Jack had sent me showing
the side by side comparison of the figure and the boxing Ned photo, and a closer view of the alleged Ned figure and a close up of the face
of the other man. So, I have added those scans here and will post a link at Dee's blog rather than publish there.

I guess time will tell if it is the same
photo. If not, it is still interesting for others to see another
disputed Ned photo that has not been widely circulated until now.

Note that I did not want to make these photos too big because they would pixelate way too much.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Stuart Dawson has done it again! He has written a well-researched and in-depth article entitled "Ned Kelly's Last Words" for our edification and enjoyment. As usual, he has done extensive footnoting for the article.

Here is a copy of the email he has sent out to interested parties -

Hi, as you had some past interest or concern with Ned Kelly issues, you may be interested in a new journal article that rediscovers and reveals Ned Kelly’s actual last words.

Abstract: It has long been widely, even admiringly, held that Ned Kelly’s last words before execution were ‘Such is life’. This is a key part of a prevalent Kelly mythology that has been subject to little serious critique. Yet the attribution of the phrase ‘Such is life’ to Kelly is pure fiction. Analysis of the reportage of the day recovers Kelly’s actual last words, and explains how they were transmuted by one journalist into the catchy expression quoted as fact by many historians. It shows that the image of Kelly standing tall and defiant, saying ‘Such is life’ as the rope was placed around his neck, is nothing but a highly romanticised myth. In fact Kelly came to an ignominious, mumbling end on the scaffold, a far cry from popular legend.

The article can be downloaded by Googling “Eras Journal” to reach the latest issue (18.1, August 2016), or directly from this link:

Please pass this note on to others who may be interested in this topic.

Cheers,

Stuart Dawson

Monash University

You will remember that Stuart Dawson had previously written an article called "Redeeming Fitzpatrick: Ned Kelly and the Fitzpatrick Incident" for the Eras Journal last year that caused quite a stir in the Kelly world. I had reported on that here -

Let's hope that in the future Stuart uses his skills and talent to tackle other highly contested Kelly subjects. Whether you agree with any of his findings or not, you have to admit that anything that keeps Ned Kelly in the spotlight is a good thing.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Here is yet another blast from the past from the now defunct glenrowan1880 site which was run by Dave White. This was written by me and originally published back in May of 2004. I put it here because there have been discussions at kellylegend.blogspot.com that are relevant to this.

Nolan in Glenro
MR. NOLAN GOES TO GLENROWAN

Nearly everyone worldwide is familiar with Sir Sidney
Nolan and his paintings of Ned Kelly featuring the iconic black squarehelmet. I had been under the impression he had only done the 27paintings known as 'The Ned Kelly Series' which were first shown
publicly in 1948 and are still drawing crowds today as the exhibitiontravels around the country and the globe. Come to find out he had donedozens of major paintings of Ned Kelly starting in 1945 and right on upinto his later decades of life, as well as an incalculable number of NedKelly drawings and sketches. Not all featured the familiar black helmet
either. A few showed us Ned's face, most notably "Death of a Poet"completed in 1954.
I recently acquired the book SIDNEY NOLAN by T. G. Rosenthal (Thames &Hudson, 2002). Mixed in among the hundreds of illustrations of Nolan's
major works is information on his life which gives insight into whatshaped him and his art. It seems that Sidney Nolan's grandfather was in
the Victorian Police Force in the 1870s and took part in the Kelly hunt.Certainly he must have regaled his grandson with stories of hisbushranger chasing days. Something surely lit Nolan's wick as regards
Ned Kelly. By 1945 when he was in his late 20s, Nolan had done his firstNed Kelly painting. Later that year, he and a mate, Max Harris, decided
to visit Kelly country and began planning a visit to Glenrowan.Certainly the Glenrowan then was a far cry from the Glenrowan of now.Tourists were not welcome at all. In preparation for the trip, Nolan
read J. J. Kenneally's "The Inner History of the Kelly Gang and TheirPursuers" (which had been newlsy revised in 1945) and the 1881 Royal Commission. Thus armed, the two young mentook a "road trip." They arrived in Glenrowan and soon the game was infull swing. Strike one: Nolan and Harris go to the nearest pub andloudly declare free drinks for anyone who will talk to them about NedKelly. Dead silence. They drink alone. Strike two: The pair make theirway next day to the police station in all anticipation to ask about anyKelly records/archives available to view. After a brief exchange ofwords, the last being "leave...town immediately", they have their
thirdstrike: they cross paths with Jim Kelly (well into advanced age, hewould die the following year). When Nolan asked if he was Ned's brother,
Jim retorted with "Yes I am, but it is none of your business!" Thussomewhat chastened andpractically chased (though not literally!) theyheaded back to Melbourne. Even with all the stonewallingand rejection,Nolan must have picked up something there in Glenrowan to inspire himand to keep the wick burning bright. Within less than two years he hadpainted 45 Ned Kelly paintings, parts of which formed the aforementioned1948 gallery showing.
Ned Kelly inspired Sidney Nolan and, through his paintings, Ned lives onrecognised by many around the world who have no clue as to his story and
what he did, but thanks to Sidney Nolan they at least know that such aman lived! And what a man! And thus, thanks to Ned Kelly we all know who
Sidney Nolan was too. Legend begets legend!